Topic: Patents

Combating the unsustainable rise of patent application numbers in the PRC

By Justin Davidson (HK) and Stanley Ng on February 22, 2021 Posted in Intellectual Property, Patents

In the last decade there has been an exponential increase in the amount of patent filing originating from China, which, according to a recently published USPTO report, can be attributed to certain non-market factors including subsidies and targets set by various governmental authorities in China. Coincidently, or perhaps not coincidentally, the China National Intellectual Property … Continue reading

2020 Year in Review – PRC Patent Laws and Practices

By Justin Davidson (HK) and Stanley Ng on February 4, 2021 Posted in Intellectual Property, Patents

2020 was a year of change and challenge. This holds true not only for the way we live and work, but also in relation to the patent laws and practices in the People’s Republic of China (“PRC”). In the last year, a number of significant amendments affecting various aspects of patent prosecution and enforcement were … Continue reading

China’s 2020 Patent Law Reform and Patent Linkage System

By Justin Davidson (HK) and Stanley Ng on November 26, 2020 Posted in Patents

Patent Law Reform We discussed the second draft of proposed amendments to the People’s Republic of China (“PRC”) Patent Law in our previous blog post here. Since then, on 17 October 2020 the PRC National People’s Congress (“NPC”) approved most of the amendments, though the law as passed is different from the draft in two … Continue reading

China Releases Draft Patent Law Amendment

By Justin Davidson (HK) and Stanley Ng on July 24, 2020 Posted in Patents

On 3rd July 2020, the National People’s Congress (NPC) of the People’s Republic of China released a second draft of proposed amendments to the PRC Patent Law for public consultation. In response to opinions from various government authorities and experts, the second draft incorporates several important changes of note: Partial design protection The draft includes … Continue reading

German patent interim injunctions require the patent to have survived validity proceedings

By Maximilian Schmitz and Clemens Rübel on July 13, 2020 Posted in Patents

In its decision dated 12 December 2019, the Higher Regional Court Munich ruled that in principle, an interim injunction for patent infringement should not be ordered unless it can be satisfied that the validity of the patent-in-suit is ensured, for example where the patent is shown to have “survived” contested proceedings on validity (Higher Regional … Continue reading

Insights from the Australian Intellectual Property Report 2020

By Amanda Caldwell (AU) and Vicky Zhang (AU) on June 16, 2020 Posted in Copyright, General, Patents, Trademark

Intellectual Property (IP) Australia published their 2020 edition of the Australian IP Report (the IP Report) on 24 April 2020. The IP Report, which can be accessed here, provides a current overview of the IP sector in Australia and the latest data on the IP rights (IPR) administered by IP Australia. Reports such as the … Continue reading

Canadian Intellectual Property Office Further Extends Statutory Deadlines to June 1, 2020

By Mark Edward Davis (CA) on May 14, 2020 Posted in Copyright, General, Patents, Trademark

The Canadian Intellectual Property Office (CIPO) has announced a further extension of deadlines to June 1, 2020. CIPO is working hard to continue operations as usual in these unforeseen circumstances. To ensure Canadian intellectual property owners do not have their rights compromised by the Covid-19 pandemic, CIPO has extended statutory deadlines that fall between March 16 … Continue reading

Be careful how you ask – Canadian court considers demand letters

By Amy Grenon (CA) and Colin Hyslop (CA) on May 11, 2020 Posted in General, Patents

In the recent decision, Fluid Energy Group Ltd v Exaltexx Inc, 2020 FC 81, the Canadian Federal Court granted an interlocutory injunction prohibiting a plaintiff patent holder in a patent infringement action from sending cease and desist letters to suppliers associated or involved with the defendant alleged infringer. This decision builds upon other recent Canadian … Continue reading

Canadian Intellectual Property Office further extends deadlines to May 18, 2020

By Mark Edward Davis (CA) on April 27, 2020 Posted in Copyright, General, Patents, Trademark

The Canadian Intellectual Property Office (CIPO) announced today that it has further extended deadlines under the Patent Act, the Trademarks Act and the Industrial Design Act to May 18, 2020. While Canadian intellectual property owners should always consult with their professional advisors concerning specific deadlines, the general effect of CIPO’s designation means that deadlines falling … Continue reading

Court Suspensions Continue, with Some Exceptions

By Madeleine Hodgson (CA), Renaud Garon Gendron, Mat Brechtel (CA) and Mark Edward Davis (CA) on April 27, 2020 Posted in Copyright, Counterfeiting, General, Patents, Trademark

Please see our updated version of this article, published July 10, 2020. An Update on the Response from Canadian Courts to COVID-19 We are now more than a month in to social distancing measures, and it is time for an update on the status of the courts across Canada. As with the rest of us, … Continue reading

An AI system cannot be « inventor » according to the EPO

By Clément Monnet and Nilofar Moini Shabestari (FR) on April 24, 2020 Posted in Patents

On January 27, 2020, the European Patent Office (EPO) published the reasons for its decisions to reject two European patent applications[1] under which an artificial intelligence system, named “DABUS”, had been designated as the inventor. The applications[2] concerned two inventions created without human intervention: a beverage container based on fractal geometry and a device based on flickering … Continue reading

Federal Court of Canada Extends Suspension Period to May 15, 2020

By Mark Edward Davis (CA) on April 6, 2020 Posted in Copyright, General, Patents, Trademark

By Updated Practice Direction and Order dated April 4, 2020, the Federal Court has further extended the Suspension Period to May 15, 2020. It has simultaneously mapped out a strategy to keep the Court running as efficiently as possible under the circumstances. During the Suspension Period (which began March 16, 2020 and currently runs until May … Continue reading

Canadian Federal Court of Appeal Extends Suspension of Hearings to May 15, 2020

By Mark Edward Davis (CA) on April 3, 2020 Posted in Copyright, General, Patents, Trademark

In a Notice to the Parties and the Profession issued April 2, 2020, the Federal Court of Appeal has confirmed that the suspension period implemented on March 16, 2020 will be extended to Friday, May 15, 2020. All matters scheduled to be heard during this Suspension Period are adjourned. The business of the Court will … Continue reading

Response from Canadian Courts to COVID-19

By Madeleine Hodgson (CA), Renaud Garon Gendron, Mat Brechtel (CA) and Mark Edward Davis (CA) on March 21, 2020 Posted in Copyright, General, Patents, Trademark

Please see our updated version of this article, published July 10, 2020. We know you have a lot to think about and plan right now and over the next few weeks. You can rely on us to keep your intellectual property litigation matters moving forward. To that end, we wanted to provide an update on … Continue reading

UPDATE ON COVID-19 : CIPO announces extensions in wake of outbreak in Canada

By Mihaela Dumitrean, Catherine Daigle (CA) and Mat Brechtel (CA) on March 21, 2020 Posted in Copyright, General, Patents, Trademark

Given the many challenges faced by all businesses in dealing with the COVID-19 outbreak, the Canadian Intellectual Property Office (CIPO) has advised that it will relax filing deadlines for the remainder of March 2020. This decision was first announced on March 16, 2020 and further updated yesterday, March 19, 2020. What you need to know All … Continue reading

CIIs – The Australian Full Court Encompass Decision

By Helen Macpherson (AU) and Harrison Ottaway (AU) on October 29, 2019 Posted in General, Patents

Overview The patentability of computer implemented inventions (CII) has long been a contentious topic in Australian patent law. A few months ago, we wrote about Justice Robertson’s decision in Rokt Pte Ltd v Commissioner of Patents, which overturned the Australian Patent Office’s rejection of a patent application for a CII relating to a digital advertising … Continue reading